See these?
I got them free.
And we all know how I feel about free right?
Too bad they taste like Pine Sol smells.
Incidentally this is a very important lesson. I picked two of these up for free at the race expo and thought I’d use them during my LA County Half Marathon. I decided to try them at 9pm the night before the race and thank goodness I did because I had to race for peanut butter to get rid of the after taste.
Race time is never a good time to try new things.
*shudder*
And yes, the race recaps are coming but they take forever to write!
Clif Shot and Shot Bloks are just about the only gels and energy supplements I can use — all the others are far too sweet for me. Hammer is another brand that I can use … but I can’t go near the PowerBar gels, and Gu gives me a headache the instant it hits my tongue.
If you don’t like the Lemon Lime Shot Bloks, don’t be tempted by the Margarita ones. Woof. They’re powerful.
Hi Rick! I actually like Shot Bloks although I wish they were slightly smaller. Are Margarita ones really strong? Several friends recommended them and frankly, I like the idea. I might give them a shot anyway. I’ve had decent luck with Gu so far although I’ve stuck with orange, vanilla and stawberry banana.
Which Clif shots do you use? I haven’t tried those because I have a stockpile of Gus I got on sale at REI but I like to keep changing things up. Otherwise it’s like forcing yourself to eat candy you dislike.
I admit that I’m the only person I know with the Gu issues that I have — my wife and my dad both love Gu. And it’s not that the Margarita blocks are _bad_, they’re just … potent.
For gels, I like the Clif Vanilla and Chocolate, and the Hammer Apple Cinnamon, Vanilla, and Unflavored. I like them on the plain side because I hate having the aftertaste for hours on end. For long runs, though, I haven’t found anything better than Hammer’s HEED and Perpetuem. The new Clif Shot Roks look like their answer to Perpetuem, but I haven’t had a chance to try them.
Full disclosure: my wife thinks the Hammer gels taste too weird — she swears they have a rice-like taste. (But she loves horchata, so I’m not sure where the disconnect is.)